MTel R8 analysis by GM Mihail Marin

5/20/2006 – Topalov confirms his fighting character with another fine win against Ponomariov in a slow manoeuvring game which ended in a brilliant attack with many unexpected moves. The other two games (Kamsky-Anand and Svidler-Bacrot) ended in draws after a relatively uneventfull fight. Short annotations by Mihail Marin.

Round eight commentary

Commentary by GM Mihail Marin

Topalov confirms his fighting character by obtaining another fine win against
Ponomariov. The slow manoeuvring phase was followed by a brilliant attack, with
many unexpected moves. In order to avoid the worse, Ponomariov had to sacrifice
the queen, but failed to build up a reliable fortress. Unfortunately, the game
ended after I initiated the complex and demanding operation of packing my luggage
for my trip to the Olympiad and I had no chance to annotate it properly. For
complete annotations, please consult the next issue of the CBM. The other two
games (Kamsky-Anand and Svidler-Bacrot) ended in draws after a relatively uneventfull
fight.

The following notes are the short version of the full training analysis
that is scheduled to appear in the next issue of ChessBase
Magazine. You can replay the shorter versions here.

16.Bxc3 This seems to be one of Topalov's favourite methods of play in
the Anti-Marshall: instead of re-capturing with the pawn and maintaining the flexibility
of his structure, he prefers to place his bishop on an active diagonal, targetting
the enemy king in the long run. See also Topalov-Grischuk, Wijk aan Zee 2005 and
Topalov-Ivanchuk, Morelia/Linares 2006. 16...Nc6 In the next phase of the
game, both sides will manoeuvre with their pieces in such a way that they take
under control the numerous important squares made available after the structural
modifications. Besides, White will aim to open the long dark diagonal by means
of f4. 17.a5 Nc8 18.Ne3 N8a7 19.Nf5 Bc8 20.Nd2 Rb8 21.f4 Bxf5 22.exf5 exf4
23.Qg4 Nd4 24.Ne4 Nab5 25.Bd2 Of course, Topalov is not the kind of player
to be afraid of "losing" an exchange after the fork on c2. According
to the terminology instituted by Rudolf Spielmann (the last of the romantic platers,
as he was frequently named) this is a passive sacrifice. White does not force,
but allows his opponent to win the exchange. 25...Nc2 26.Bxf4 Kh8 27.Qh5 Nxe1
28.Rxe1 Qxa5

29.Ra1!! The only way to defend both attacked pieces, but a very dangerous
attacking move at the same time. Black's king will soon find itself under unstoppable
attack. 29...Rbd8 30.f6 gxf6 31.Kh2!! Removing the king from the exposed
g1-square, White threatens 32.Bxf7 Qxa1 32.Bg6. 31...d5 32.Nxf6 Bxf6 33.d4!!
The last brilliant move in this game. The threat Bb1 can be parried only by
sacrificing the queen. 33...Qxa2 34.Rxa2 Nxd4 Black has some hopes to build
up a fortress, but White's energetic play demolishes his plan little by little.
35.b4! Ne6 [35...cxb4 loses material to 36.Be5] 36.Be5 Bg7 37.bxc5
Rc8 38.Bd6 Rfd8 39.Ra5 Kg8 40.Rxa6 Rd7 41.Qxd5 Bf8 42.Qf3 Bxd6+ 43.cxd6 Rcd8 44.Qd5
Ng7 45.Ra8 Ne6 46.Rxd8+ Rxd8 47.g4

Mihail
Marin, 41, Romanian Grandmaster, three times national champion
(1988, 1994, 1999), nine times member of the Olympic team, participant
in two Interzonals (Szirak 1987 and Manila 1990). In 2005 Marin was
the second of Judit Polgar at the FIDE world championship in San Luis.
Highest rating: 2604. Author of the ChessBase opening CDs English
1.c4 e5 and The Catalan Opening and the books: Secrets
of Chess Defense, Secrets of Attacking Chess and Learn from
the Legends. Graduate from the Polytechnic Institute Bucharest
(Specialty Electrotechnic) in 1989.

If
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See also

9/26/2017 – The final classical game. The finals has been relatively sedate with three draws until now. But it could all end today with one decisive game. Ding Liren has the black pieces today. It's going to be an exciting game. Games kick off at 13:00 CEST (7:00 AM EST) with live commentary from Tbilisi by GMs Evgeny Miroshnichenko and WGM Keti Tsatsalashvili and live updates by our reporters Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal.

See also

7/5/2017 – This is neither prank nor clever wording: Garry Kasparov will be playing in the official St. Louis leg of the Grand Chess Tour from August 14-19, 2017. Please note that this is the Rapid and Blitz competition, just as the ones held in Paris and Levuen these last weeks, and not the classical events. However, this is not an exhibition event, and will determine the official Grand Chess Tour rankings as well as FIDE ratings of the players. Here is the press release.

Video

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